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Review and Excerpt Tour: Kayden/Simon Bayou Heat

KAYDEN/SIMON by Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright, novellas in their Bayou Heat Series brought to you by 1001 Dark Nights, is here! Be sure you check out the trailer and all the stops on the tour. It’s available now so grab your copy today!

Kayden is obsessed with revenge after his parents disappeared when he was just a cub. Now the gorgeous Hunter has discovered the man responsible for betraying them – Joshua Ford – and it’s time for payback. Beginning with the kidnapping of Joshua’s daughter, Bianca. But last thing he expects is to be confronted with the horrifying realization that Bianca is his mate. Will he put revenge before his chance for eternal happiness?

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Sexy male model, Simon refuses to give up his exciting life in New York City to return to the slow heat of the Wildlands. For a decade, many pantera have tried to capture the rogue Diplomat and bring him home, but all have failed. Now it’s Tryst’s turn. The hard, brilliant, and gorgeous, Hunter is the ultimate tracker. But can the admitted beast-girl of the Wildlands capture her prey without losing her heart in the process?

“Did they teach you nothing in Hunter school? When you go outside the Wildlands, you don’t draw attention to yourself and your kind.”

With a curse, she pushed away from him, releasing his wrists. “Get dressed.”

“It’d go faster if you helped.”

She dropped into a chair and snorted. “No interest in touching you.”

“You’re just going to leave me like this?”

“I’m sure it’s not the first time.”

He laughed and pushed away from the door. She was feisty. A true cat. Spitting one moment, purring the next. It was disappointing that he’d never see her again after today. But such was life. Well, his life.

He pulled on his shirt then grabbed his jeans. “Can I ask you something?”

“What?” she practically snarled.

“Why do you love it? The Wildlands?” He zipped up and put on his shoes. “Don’t you feel caged there? Like an…animal?”

“I love being an animal. I wish I had fur on my back right now.”

“That’s right,” he recalled. “No shifting outside the magic of the Wildlands… So...are you in your cat more often than you’re like this?” He walked toward her, his gaze flickering past her for a brief second.

“If I could be in my cat 24/7, I would.”

“Interesting.”

She stood up. “Can we go now.” It wasn’t a question, and his answer wasn’t a verbal one.

He reached behind her, yanked the chair forward, which made her falter, her butt landing on the cushion once again. He leaned in close, his eyes locked with hers, his face just an inch away. “Cab waiting outside? Or is it a limo? Maybe a horse-drawn carriage? I’m used to grand gestures.”

For a few brief seconds—which was all he needed—the female seemed to consider this. Then her lips twitched and her eyes took on a mocking look. She was damn good at those looks. Made his knees buckle. Almost.

He groaned. This sucked. “Goddess, you don’t know how good that sounds.” He stood up, exhaling with disappointment. “Another time. I hope.”

She sniffed and rolled her eyes, then started to rise. When she realized she was tied to the chair, her gaze blasted his and she bared her teeth.

Another great addition to the series. The Pantera continue their quest to find the evil mind behind all of the kidnapping and experimenting happening with their kind. This novella is part of a series and you will enjoy is much more if you are caught up with the rest of the books. I enjoyed both of the stories presented here. We have met most of the major players in the Pantera world, so it was nice to see some side characters we may not be familiar with. Both males are crabby, alphas, bound and determined to be independent and a bit rogue. And both men have their plans waylaid by that ever elusive mate bond. One of the things I like most about the shifter/paranormal genre, is the whole one true mate premise. There are no games played here. The mates recognize each other. They may try to fight it but things usually progress to hot and steamy very quickly. Kayden and Bianca, Simon and Tryst. The couples are just as s3xy in their feistiness as in their passion. The bad guys are still after the Pantera. The population is closer to answers but not yet. Lucky for readers, that means we get more Pantera males to grace our e-readers! Looking forward to it! *ARC received for an honest review.

Alexandra Ivy is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From Alexandra: “I’m not exactly sure when I fell in love with books. Probably on my mother’s knee listening to her read Dr. Seuss to me. I do remember that I was barely old enough to cross the street by myself when I discovered the delights of the local library.Could anything be more wonderful than spending summer days surrounded by stacks of Nancy Drew mysteries? Over the years I fell in love with Victoria Holt, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and J.R.R. Tolkien just to name a few. I read poetry, essays, biographies, and plays. In fact, I read anything I could get my hands on.Years later (no, I’m not admitting how many) I’m still an avid reader, and my tastes are still as varied as they were in my youth, which I suppose helps to explain why I enjoy writing regency historicals under the name of Deborah Raleigh, as well as my contemporary paranormals as Alexandra Ivy. For now that is enough to keep me busy, but who knows what the future might hold!I do have a few other loves in my life besides reading and writing, the most important being my unbelievably patient husband, David, and my two sons, Chance and Alexander. Without their constant support and belief in me, I never could have been able to follow my dreams. They are truly my heroes.

Laura Wright is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From Laura: “Unlike many of my peers in the writing world, I wasn’t a writer or a reader until I left high school. During my youth I was into theater, song and dance, commercials and boys. I loved romance surely, but I had never read a romance novel until my late teens. With that said, I remember the day I did like it was a moment ago – my aunt gave me the Jude Deveraux novel, Knight in Shining Armor and I couldn’t put it down until the very last word. Then I went straight to the library and got another – then another until I’d read everything she’d ever written. After that, it was McNaught, Howard, Schone, Kleypas, and the Silhouette line, Desire. I instantly loved those emotional, sexy reads, so much so that I began to carve out ideas for my own stories, themes that were unique to me and moved me. In 1997 I enrolled in UCLA extension writing classes, met my mentor and critique partners and since have never stopped writing. I was committed then and I still am now; the need to tell my own romantic stories a full on obsession. My first manuscript was rejected, and though the second one was as well the editor who’d rejected it wanted to see something else from me. I had something (note to authors; always keep working, even after you’ve sent in a proposal) and sent it right away. The day I got the call telling me Desire wanted to buy Cinderella and the Playboy was the best day of my life. That is until I married my husband, and had my two beautiful children. But I must say, writing is much like motherhood – tough, grueling, surprising, delicious and for me, a dream come true.”